By Laura Mazur
Community Post
What is a furlough?

A “furlough” is word, that, when spelled correctly can win someone a county spelling bee.
Arliss Nicholson, eighth-grader at Coldwater Junior High School, correctly spelled this word on Monday night to win the Mercer County Spelling Bee at Wright State University-Lake Campus, in Celina.
The daughter of Hope Nicholson, she said she looks forward to the challenge of the upcoming regional bee for which she now qualifies.
“It will be a challenge because there will be people who made it farther and they’re better spellers,” she said.
Nicholson came in as second runner-up last year in the county bee. This year, she came in first place in her district bee and first in the county bee.
In hot pursuit behind her after the top placement were Grace Linn, fifth-grader of Parkway Elementary School and David Tobe, eighth-grader of Fort Recovery Middle School. The trio matched up against just each other through four rounds, eliminating the need for a bee-off for second and third places.
Linn, however, came in as first runner-up when she went out in the 11th round with “streusel.” She admitted that even with her “whole lot” of practice of Greek, Latin, magazine and catalog words, this was a word with which she always had trouble. This was Linn’s second time at the county bee. The daughter of Randy and Paula Linn, she also made it to second place at the district level.
The second runner-up in the spelling competition, Tobe, went out in the 9th round with “samurai.” This was also Tobe’s second time at the county bee.
“It’s not as scary as it seems,” he said.
The son of Lester and Therese Tobe, he also said the regional bee at James A. Rhodes State College, in Lima will be a challenge.
“It will be a challenge to see if I can get better than second runner-up,” he explained.
The regional bee, which will take place on Saturday, March 22, will qualify top placers to go to Washington, D.C. for the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 29 and 30.